


Jealousy

by honeyhyuckles



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Fluff, How Do I Tag, Hurt Lee Donghyuck | Haechan, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan & Mark Lee Are Best Friends, Light Angst, M/M, Sweet Mark Lee (NCT)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-26
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2021-02-25 05:00:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21571186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honeyhyuckles/pseuds/honeyhyuckles
Summary: 'Mark. It was always about Mark. He was the golden boy of SM after all, wasn't he?'Haechan is having a hard time keeping up with the practices of  NCT 127 and NCT Dream and he can't help but compare himself to Mark, his best friend who seemed to be too perfect to be real.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Comments: 6
Kudos: 303





	Jealousy

"Let's do it again, okay back to your positions!" The choreographer's voice rang through the practice room as he strode towards the front and faced the nine sweating boys, clapping his hands to gain their attention.

"Five, six, seven, eight!"

The boys moved in perfect synchronisation, as they twisted their bodies to the beat of the song, switching places when deemed necessary, performing the difficult choreography as smoothly as possible.

Except for one of them.

Lee Donghyuck was positively panting right now as he ordered his body to dance. His face was dripping with sweat, the back of his T-Shirt drenched in the liquid.

_Come on,_ He begged his body, _You can do this._

Turned out that his body had already pushed itself to its extent and couldn't follow his wishes.

Which caused him to stumble in one of the key dance steps, drawing the attention of the choreographer.

The music was stopped immediately.

"Haechan, what happened to you today?" The choreographer questioned, his eyebrows drawing together in a straight line. "You're extremely distracted."

Donghyuck bit his lip as he wiped his sweaty hands on his track pants, his mind coming up with nothing useful to say in the current situation.

It didn't help that he could feel the glare of eight other pairs of eyes on him, annoyed groans leaving their lips.

"Haechan-ah, what is wrong with you?" Taeyong spoke up, his eyes burning with exasperation. "If you can't focus, get out."

Donghyuck's eyes burnt as he tried to hold back the tears which threatened to slip out and down his cheeks anytime soon. He knew that Taeyong didn't mean to be so harsh, but at the moment his tired mind could not think of anything but closing his eyes and finally succumbing to the temptation of sleep which was weighing heavily on his eyelids.

The choreographer sighed, disappointment etched on his face

"There is no use practicing the same part again and again if one of you are clearly distracted. You can leave."

And with that, he turned on his heel and left the room.

Donghyuck cowered under the disapproving frowns which were immediately turned on him once the door had closed.

"Why Hyuck?" Doyoung exclaimed. "We could have finished that part today and moved onto the next tomorrow if only you stopped slacking off. I know you take almost everything lightly, but why can't you be serious for once?"

Donghyuck kept his gaze trained on the floor, purposely avoiding the gaze of all his hyungs. The burn of humiliation he was feeling in his chest was something he had hardly ever felt before.

He had let his members down.

A part of his mind wanted to fight back, to remind them that his energy had already been half spent on his dance practice with Dream. But he kept his mouth shut. 

Although he couldn't deny the fact that Doyoung's words had stung. Did they really think that he didn't take anything seriously?

The members started filing out of the practice room, each one of them exhausted and rather subdued as they walked into the resting room beside the practice room, in which they had dumped all of their belongings.

As they reached for their bags, a terrified scream pierced the air.

Mark was running backwards until his back hit the opposite wall, his eyes wide as he pointed at his bag.

"THERE'S A BUG ON MY BAG!" He shrieked, waving his arms up and down.

Taeyong frowned as he moved around the bags which had been thrown haphazardly on the floor by their owners and reached for Mark's bag.

His frown melted away into a tired smile when he picked up the 'bug' which had been the cause for the strain on Mark's vocal chords.

"Mark. It's a dried leaf."

"Oh." Mark sheepishly looked at the rest of the members, scratching the back of his head.

The rest of the members grinned, the tension in the atmosphere considerably lessened by the incident.

"Mark, man up a bit, why don't you?" Jaehyun teased as he pulled out a towel from his bag, wiping his face with it.

Haechan smiled slightly at the scene in front of him. If it were any other day, it would be a perfect opportunity to jump in and tease Mark, something everyone would expect.

But today, he really didn't feel like it.

He swallowed as he reached out to pick up his own bag, trying to ignore the pit that was slowly forming in his stomach.

And although he hated himself for it, he knew he was jealous.

Of Mark.

Of his very own best friend.

And the negative thoughts started to slowly, painfully trickle into his mind.

Mark was always better than him. Last year, he had been in _three_ different NCT units, yet he had still managed to be perfect, always on beat while rapping or dancing, always having enough energy to fool around with the other members.

And Haechan, who was in only two different units had messed up.

He pressed his towel to his face as he willed the tears which were beginning to gather in his eyes to go away.

He would not cry.

He would not cry.

_He would not cry._

He groaned as he felt the tears run down his cheeks, and before anyone could ask him what was wrong, he picked his bag up and fled, escaping the room faster than one of Mark's raps.

He made his way towards an empty storage room and slammed the door shut behind him, finally letting his tears flow.

He was exhausted, _so damn tired_ , and all he wanted to do was sleep. His mind whirled, his vision was blurred by the tears which wouldn't cease, his stomach grumbled for food.

And he wanted to sleep.

He slid into the floor, his eyes slowly closing.

* * *

Donghyuck slowly opened his eyes, blinking away the sleepiness as he looked around, trying to remember what had happened.

He was on his bed, in his room, wrapped in a burrito of blankets, the warmth surrounding him making him relax.

It was only when he turned, still cocooned in his blankets, that he realised he wasn't the only one in the room.

Sitting on the other end of the bed was Mark. He was fast asleep, his head lolling forward, bending his neck in a rather painful angle according to Donghyuck. His hair was a mess and Donghyuck could only imagine the number of times Mark must have run his hands through his bangs for it to be in such a dismal state.

And _oh._

Donghyuck realised what must have happened.

He fell asleep in the storage room.

After running away from his members.

After the terrible dance practice.

After disappointing his members.

His stomach turned upside down when the image of his members walking into the storage room yesterday and finding him collapsed on the floor swam to the forefront of his mind.

_Oh damn._

He sat up on the bed and pushed away the blankets, struggling a bit to free himself from the cocoon which had been wound rather tightly around him and stood up.

He stumbled when the world suddenly revolved around him at the abruptness of his motions and leaned on the wall, trying to gain control of his body.

But his not-so-silent movements had woken Mark from his slumber.

"Hyuck!"

Mark sprang up from his place on the bed and walked over to where Hyuck was standing, grasping his arm and gently but firmly guiding Donghyuck to the bed.

Once he had persuaded Donghyuck to sit on the bed, he knelt in front of him, and raised Donghyuck's chin, forcing him to look into his eyes.

"Hyuck. Why didn't you tell any of us that you were exhausted?"

Donghyuck bit his lip, his words stuck in his throat. He could feel himself tearing up- _oh god, not again._

Mark was still looking at him.

"You could have told us, Hyuck. We would have understood."

Donghyuck looked away trying to compose himself. Why, why was he so close to tears all the time?

Mark was still speaking.

"I know how hard it is to have two practices on the same day, you should have mentioned it-"

"It was because of you!" Donghyuck finally exclaimed, words and tears both flowing out of his system freely now.

"It was because of you, Mark Lee. You were in _three_ units last year Hyung, _three._ But you still managed to keep up, still managed to rap, sing, dance, laugh, everything. You were, you _are_ perfect. And I'm not."

He dropped his head in his hands, hiding his face, which wet with tears. "I'm not perfect. I'm not like you, Mark. And I hate myself for that."

Mark's eyes had widened, his face a mask of surprise due to the sudden outburst. The words which Hyuck had spat out were only now processing in his mind, and he finally understood.

_Donghyuck was jealous of him._

And Mark felt like crying. But not because of what Donghyuck had just said.

He felt like crying because he hadn't realised what Donghyuck had been going through. And he called himself Donghyuck's best friend.

He remembered the hatred he had felt for himself when he had seen Donghyuck collapsed on the floor last night, tear tracks on his face, dark circles on his eyes. He couldn't believe that he had been such a terrible excuse for a best friend, completely and utterly oblivious to Donghyuck's exhausted state, not only of body, but also of mind.

And now he did the only thing which popped up into his mind.

He pulled Donghyuck into a bear hug.

His own tears escaped his eyes, falling down his cheeks in rivers.

"I'm sorry, Hyuck. _I'm so sorry._ You're perfect. You've always been perfect to me. I've always envied you for your extroverted nature, and how talking to people comes so naturally to you. It's like whenever you talk to someone, you were destined to become friends with that person. You're so independent, and the best mood maker I've ever seen. Your jokes are actually funny, unlike mine and although it's annoying when you tease me, I would feel lost if you didn't. And your voice, _your voice gods_. It's beautiful and so unique." He swallowed as he hugged Donghyuck harder, not caring about whether the younger boy was choking or not.

"The reason why I could make it last year, with both the 127 and Dream practices was because of you, Hyuck. You were always there to energize me with your stupid puns and bright smile. Even when I had practice in NCT U, I had Taeyong Hyung. I was never alone. But you, You were alone. Because I was a shitty best friend and forgot to be there for you, to catch you when you fell. And I'm sorry for that. I'm truly, really, extremely sorry."

He pulled away to look at Donghyuck, whose eyes were red and swollen, his brown eyes teary, his nose red.

"Yesterday, we were all just so caught up with the choreography that we didn't take in account that you had already practiced with Dream. And I guess we all just forgot."

And Mark's heart lightened considerably when Donghyuck gave a tiny, watery smile.

"Of course you forgot" Donghyuck whispered, his voice cracking and hoarse, but still amused. "You all have such terrible memories. What would you do without me?"

And Mark gave him an equally watery smile.

"I'm pretty sure we'd still be the same, Hyuck. You're not much of an asset when it comes to remembering stuff."

The two of them chuckled, Donghyuck reaching out to punch Mark lightly on the arm.

"At least I'm a bigger asset than you."

And Mark's smile grew wider, because he knew that Donghyuck was finally back to normal and the sun was finally shining, brighter than it had before the storm.

And he had just proved science wrong, it was possible to hug the sun without getting burnt.

How did he know? Because he was hugging the sun at the moment.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and Comments would be great appreciated!!


End file.
